Photos App library with Google Drive

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Level 1

10 points

Photos App library with Google Drive

Hello everyone,

Up until the update from iPhoto to Photos I had my library in my Google Drive folder, for a seamless cloud backup. Once I upgraded to Photos, I realised that I could no longer 'share' photos to family members. I moved the library back to the Pictures folder, got Photos to relocate it and once again it worked fine.

Surely there is a way this functionality should work with the library in the Google Drive folder? Has anyone experienced this problem before or have a workaround?

Second question, as my library is too big for apple's 5gb iCloud, I have turned iCloud photo library off. With iPhoto, my photo stream would still work, and new photos on my iphone would be automatically added/updated in iPhoto. With iCloud photo library off, this no longer works and one has to manually import new photos. The way I see it (iCloud and all it's iterations has me a tad confused) apple is forcing you to either buy more storage (and enabling iCloud photo library) or foregoing the use of features such as my photo stream. Am I right in my assessment or did I miss something? On a side not, being able to selectively backup photos/and videos to iCloud would be a god send, I have many photos that don't need to be backed up and could thus save a a lot of bandwidth and cloud space.

A quick note for Apple, "Photo's" is definitely a simple and straight forward name for such an app. Trying to google or even search Apple's support is pretty useless as almost every search result has 'photo's' in it. (I tried googling and 'apple photo's app and google drive')

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 17, 2015 3:42 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,633 points

Apr 17, 2015 5:01 AM in response to Pix0r

See the Photos help:

By default, your System Photo Library is stored in the Pictures folder on your Mac, but you can move it to another location on your Mac or store it on an external storage device. However, to use iCloud services, the external storage device must be formatted using Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, also known as HFS+.

So, if you want to use PhotoStream or other iCloud services, the library cannot be on Google Drive, because of the wrong File System.

The Photos documentation does not say so, but when I experimented with moving the Photos Library to a synced volume (Dropbox, iCloud Drive) the library has been corrupted by the syncing and was no longer usable. I would not risk it, to put the library onto a synced volume.

My Photo Stream should work with iCloud Photo Library turned off. However, it will only import from devices, that are not using iCloud Photo Library.

Use My Photo Stream to import your most recent photos from devices that don’t use iCloud Photo Library. My Photo Stream keeps your last 30 days of photos in iCloud so you can import them to your Mac.

To use My Photo Stream, you need an iCloud account.

Turn My Photo Stream on or off

Choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud.
Select the My Photo Stream checkbox to turn on My Photo Stream. To turn it off, deselect the checkbox.

Important: If you have My Photo Stream turned on and you’re not using iCloud Photo Library, photos from My Photo Stream appear in the My Photo Stream album in Albums view. If you’re using iCloud Photo Library, you won’t see a My Photo Stream album—all your photos will be added to the All Photos album.

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Answer 2

Pix0r Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 17, 2015 5:14 AM in response to léonie

Hi léonie,

Thanks for the reply. It makes sense that the library needs to be on the correct file system. I'll keep my library in the normal location until I can find a better solution.

It seems my phone's iCloud photo library was turned on, thus the problems. I turned it off, took a quick photo which then magically appeared in Photo's! However, the "My Photo Stream" album is not appearing under Albums, or rather, it did but quickly disappeared... Not a big problem, it just seems strange...

Thanks again for the help!

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,633 points

Apr 17, 2015 5:41 AM in response to Pix0r

You're welcome 🙂

Yes, the come-and-go Photo stream is strange.

A frequent cause for the PhotoStreams not syncing, is that the Camera.app is still open. The iPhone will only start to upload to Photo Stream, if the camera is closed, the battery properly charged, and the Wi-Fi connection working.

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Answer 4

el arbee

Level 1

8 points

Apr 29, 2016 3:42 AM in response to Pix0r

I had a problem with syncing my Photos library to the cloud using Google Drive - kept getting 'authorisation error'. So I did some searching. Turns out Apple warns that storing your Photos library on any cloud sync drive may damage the library and cause you to lose photos.

If you store your Photos library in a location that's part of a cloud service (for example, Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive), your library might be damaged by the syncing process. As a result, you could lose photos.

Their solution? Use Apple's much more expensive iCloud storage. (What a surprise!)

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,633 points

Apr 29, 2016 4:41 AM in response to el arbee

At least Apple has put it now in writing, that the Photos Library must not be stored on a synced volume. It is nowhere in the Photos Help.

Thanks for posting that quote. Now I finally know that we can reference an Apple document for this critical information.

Updating from iPhoto to Photos for OS X - Apple Support

I had to find this out the hard way by sacrificing test libraries to iCloud Drive and Drop Box. Syncing always tore them to shreds.

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